Edward's August 2018 Mix

August is gone and fall is here. I took the plunge into 4K Blu Ray. And yes, there is a difference. It's nothing like VHS to Blu Ray different, more like VHS to DVD if a comparison were made. Anyway, next month I should have a 4K movie or two in the mix. I've been on a Need for Speed binge for some reason. And I'm way behind on my games. I'm wondering if I'm even going to break ten games played by the end of the year. How odd considering there are so many new games released now. I miss the old days sometimes where you bought one game a month at a brick and mortar store and played through it simply because that's all you had. Now I have a Steam library of 200+ games and sadly many of them I'll never play. Mortality sucks.

1       Need for Speed: Carbon on PC: Continuing the story in Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005) this installment consists of five boroughs in which different types of street races are required to ultimately face off the borough’s “boss” racer in a very challenging canyon race. The canyon race involves a two-stage race in which the player must keep on the tail of his opponent, and in the ensuing stage must create as much space as possible between himself and his opponent trying to stick to his tail end. The game play is typical of all the NFS games, arcadish, but challenging. The graphics are adequate for a game released in 2006, but the killer for me was the final boss race. I’ve had friends who gave up on the game after not being able to beat him. I stuck with it, the masochist that I am, and despite my 40+ attempts, I finally nailed it. I haven’t raised my arms in a victorious fist pump over a game in a very long time.

2    Need for Speed: Pro Street on PC: I started this game a few years back, but it kept bugging out on my computer and I had to uninstall it. After completing Carbon I thought I’d give it another go. So far, so good. This one is strictly road and track racing in closed venues. Win races (or place high enough to stand on the podium) and you win cash enabling you to upgrade car components or purchase better cars. And dominating in a race venue allows you to play a lottery style pick game in which upgrades/cars/cash are locked behind mystery boxes. I’m about halfway through the game. It’s fun, a bit repetitive, but a welcome change from the typical NFS fare of racing in city streets.

3    Lone Survivor on Blu Ray: I’d heard many good things about this movie, including an honor among military veterans putting it in a top ten list of most authentic military/war movies. I read Amazon reviews which stated Mark Wahlberg became the reviewer’s favorite actor after watching this movie about a botched US Navy Seal operation in Afghanistan. The first thing I noticed was the pristine clarity on the Blu Ray format. This is probably one of the crispest movies I’ve seen on Blu Ray. The scenes depicting the JOINT OPS base and the Seal Team base looked as if I were looking over it from a distance in the real world. As for the story, yes, I’m sure there were artistic licenses taken, but I was invested enough in the characters that at the end of the movie, not only was I reaching for a Kleen-ex tissue, so were both my parents who watched it with me.

4    Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice: This is the 9^th book in Rice’s venerable Vampire Chronicles. It’s compelling, especially the last ¾ of the book, but it sure took its time getting there. And the main character, Quinn Blackwood, is not a very sympathetic character. A poor little rich boy whose imaginary friend is a ghost. And the ghost is even more of a spoiled brat than Quinn. Oh, and then there’s the story’s antagonist: a towering she-male vampire, probably one of the most wanton characters Rice has ever created. Incest, underage sex, hermaphrodites and devout homosexuality. This book exudes weirdness. I hate to admit Rice’s Vampire Chronicles began a downward spiral starting with about book five. My tenacity with the series bears testament to the bond I’ve created with her characters. I didn't feel it with this one. And frankly, I’m glad the series is winding down to an end.

5     A Fistful of Dollars on Blu Ray: I recently picked up The Man with No Name trilogy, and this is the first of the series, the one that made Clint Eastwood a household name. An upgraded transfer to the Blu Ray format from DVD seems non-existent. This looks identical to the DVD version I own. Still, the movie is so entertaining I watched it again, and then I watched the commentary version by noted film historian and Spaghetti film fanatic, Sir Christopher Frayling. Interesting facts: Clint Eastwood’s character is different in each movie; he is not the same character in all three movies. I didn’t realize this, but it makes sense. The movie was a direct rip off from famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. (A lawsuit arose but was settled out of court.)  And perhaps most odd of all is when filming began, Eastwood encouraged Sergio Leone, the director to cut much of his dialogue to make Eastwood’s character more of a visual presence. It was a good call and only served to make him much more memorable in further movies in the series. Interestingly, it’s probably the first time in movie history that an actor solicited cutting his lines instead of adding to them.

6     TheHunter: Call of the Wild on PC: I’ve always been intrigued by hunting games. Probably because I don’t hunt in real life. I always passed on the old Walmart Cabela hunting games, and I’m glad I held out like I did because this one is the granddaddy of them all. Starting out with a lower level rifle (all firearms are unlicensed but bear resemblances/characteristics to their RL counterparts) you earn in-game cash and XP to upgrade to better firearms. The popular notion is the graphics in this game depict the most realism of any game on the market today. And it’s not just hype. I’ve spent the best part of my childhood in the woods, and this game nails the look and feel of it. I played multiplayer with friends who complained about the lack of animals. I welcomed this aspect since it attributed more to realism. Many Steam reviewers lament the DLC accusing it of being a cash grab. I must disagree. There isn’t that much of it and what little it is can be picked up during a sale for next to nothing. Most importantly none of it attributes to any kind of “pay to win” scheme.

7     Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History by Lynn Vincent & Sara Vladic: Not only did the movie Jaws terrorize a whole generation of moviegoers in 1975, it also sparked a public interest in a little known facet of American war history with Robert Shaw’s character’s recounting of his ordeal of survival after the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in July 1945. This book is the story of that ordeal, and the events surrounding the ship and the men who served aboard her before and after the ordeal. I’ve only just started it, but the book resonates with me because I personally sailed those very same waters between Guam and the Philippine Islands where this occurred. And I was fortunate enough to attend a book signing by the two authors in Indianapolis, Indiana this past month.

8     Bladerunner on Blu Ray: I’ve watched this, my favorite movie, perhaps more times than I can count now. But this time I watched the commentary by Syd Mead, the visual futurist who was responsible for much of the design of the movie. Very interesting stuff, indeed. Supposedly, the movie as it was being filmed began going over budget. Ridley Scott, the director, in his unorthodox style would film a particular scene sixteen different times, much to the chagrin and utter frustration of his financial backers standing over him and breathing down his neck. He simply ignored them as if they were invisible. Work conditions were so long and tedious several people on the film made it their last film. They sought a livelihood in other professions. Mead did a wonderful job though of making the film a piece of magic, and Scott did a remarkable job of covering up the blood and the sweat to make this movie his magnum opus.

9    Neverwinter Nights on PC: I’m still on the grand endeavor to get this game completed. I’m well into chapter 3 now and my character, Edward, the venerable paladin is level 12 just on the verge of hitting level 13. Still a gorgeous game (even on my new 1440P monitor) and well worth playing.

Edward's July 2018 Mix

We are hitting the downswing of summer now. I feel the sublte inferrences of fall in the air. I love it, but I hate the winter it portends. I had my summer shutdown/vacation from work and figured I’d get more gaming time in. And guess what I played more than anything during that time? Bookworm. Almost unbelievable eh? And then there was the Steam Summer Sale. Sadly, it’s glory days are long gone. You’ll do better visiting Humble Bundle or Fanatical. They host better sales and much more often as well, and they’re all Steam keys anyway. Bucking Steam altogether you can hit up Gog.com as well. Cheaper games, and usually nifty extras included like avatars, game guides, and soundtracks. And Gog tracks your game time just like Steam. I went on the table again for a paddle shock. It helped the a-fib go away, and to further embellish the happy story, they tweaked my ICD and brought my heart ejection fraction from a lowly 15-25% to a blazing 30-35%. Fortunately, it seems I’ll be around a while longer.  

1.     Big Wreck Ghosts on HD FLAC:  Created in 2014, this album was nominated for the Juno Awards “Rock Album of the Year.” It’s a bit more bluesy than standard Big Wreck fare, and admittedly it took a few listens to grow on me, but like so many good albums it did grow on me. I think the best song on the album is the titular “Ghosts,” but the whole album is worth a pick up and listen to. And for the price, the album is 70 minutes long, so you get your money’s worth. Oddly, the album which shows a multi toned blue city back-grounded by searchlights reminds me of the underground city, Rapture in the PC game Bioshock. It’s a weird correlation, I know, but it’s what the cover made me think of, and that’s a good thing. I’ll take anything as an excuse to revisit that terrible and wonderful city.

2.     Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4 on Blu Ray: This series continues to blow me away. It’s some of the best writing I’ve ever seen on television and the Blu Ray treatment still makes my jaw drop. I often buy whole series and then unload them on eBay. This is one series I shall forever keep and re-watch. Data has become my favorite character, though I’ve grown quite fond of all the characters. It’s interesting how the classic series always revolved around “strange new worlds, new civilizations,” and this newer series seems to involve life aboard the Starship Enterprise and its characters much more. And it just works. Perfectly.

3.     The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hogue by Robert A. Heinlein: (blatantly plagiarized (stolen) from my GoodReads review.) Heinlein’s early works will always be my favorite. This was during his what I consider transition time, moving from his early work to his modern writing. This is a novella and short stories. None of them particularly stood out except the story, “The Man who Traveled in Elephants,” which is a story of a man at the end of his life entering a sweet hereafter. Oddly, I’m not alone. Heinlein considered this his best short story.

4.     Mission: Impossible 2 on Blu Ray: One of the highest grossing action films of 2000, and directed by John Woo, a tour de force of action sequences. As farfetched as you can get in a movie (somersaulting hi-jinks in slow motion, catapulting over a motorcycle while aiming and shooting a pistol. Seriously?) Yet it is fun to watch. This is the stuff that sells popcorn. The plot was not quite as convoluted as the first movie, but still one to pay attention to if you want to be in the know. This, my second delve into the box set I recently picked up. No regrets so far, and the Metallica song “Disappear” was a nice touch at the end credits.    

5.     Siphon Filter on Sony PlayStation Vita: My first purchase from the PSN Store, this was originally released on the PlayStation back in 1999. It’s reminiscent of Sam Fisher meets Solid Snake. I forgot how difficult these old games were, not being able to save until you end the level. The controls aren’t so intuitive, but I’m getting better. Still it’s a fun challenge, and the graphics look pretty slick for a 2000 game ported to a handheld. Actually, it makes the graphics look even better on a small screen gaming device.

6.     Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational  on Sony PlayStation Vita: This is quite the fun little golf game. The chirpy happy music coupled with a slight Japanese art style and the intuitive controls make this game worth buying a Vita for. The background detail is amazing and the detail in the courses make it easy to believe you are stepping out of the phenomenal world into a wonderful place Sony has created for the player. With upgrades and unlocks, this game ventures into slight RPG territory.  

7.     Neverwinter Nights on PC: I’m still trudging through haunted forests and zombified towns trying to fight the good fight and discovering what has cursed Neverwinter. It’s a noble cause and definitely a compelling journey, though I still lose my way sometimes and drop the game to do other things. I’m nearing the end of chapter two. I’ve recently acquired a +3 Greatsword which is sort of a gamechanger, but in the best of ways.  

8.     Big Audio Dynamite This is Big Audio Dynamite  on CD: In my five decades of life on this earth, 1985 will forever be a standout. It was the year I got out of the US Navy, my four year hell-hole. It was like walking out of prison. One of the first albums I remember hearing when I got out was, “The Bottom Line.” I recently picked this album up, and yep, sure enough it was a time machine. I instantly found myself back in 1985. The band, vocalized by The Clash fame, Mick Jones, was a mix of punk, reggae, hip-hop (before that was even a thing) and funk. It was a strange conglomeration that spelled success for the band. The album on original Compact Disc Audio sounds great without any “sound wars” remastering,  unfortunately, try as I have, “The Bottom Line,” is the best song on the album and I would have been just as happy finding it on an ‘80s compilation album.

9.     Pink Floyd: The Ultimate Collector’s Edition: I’ve been reading this for awhile. And to be honest, I’m about Pink Floyded out. That may sound harsh, but for all of their broad musical endeavors over the course of several decades they have intrinsically defined their music as a tribute to Syd Barrett. And then their definition became a tribute to Roger Waters (who became bitterly estranged from the band.) This carried even into The Division Bell which in my opinion is David Gilmour’s magnum opus. It just seems such a waste to define a band’s impetus being any kind of legacy left behind from former members who would probably not care less anyway.

Edward's June 2018 Mix

It’s that time of year again. Summer shutdown from work, the annual lackluster Steam Sale, yard mowing, looking out my office window and wishing I could be outside. Still, I’ll take this over ice and snow anytime. Speaking of the Steam Summer Sale (which Gog.com, Humble Bundle and Fanatical seems to blow clean out of the water) I’ve picked up a few games to add to my ever growing backlog and the funny thing is . .when will I play these games? .

1.      Brian McBride The Effective Disconnect on CD:  Commissioned to score the OST for the famous documentary about the vanishing honeybee dilemma, The Vanishing of the Bees.” this album is a tour de force of McBride’s work. You know him as 1\2 of Austin, TX’s brilliant ambient duo, The Stars of the Lid, which I know and love well, but frankly speaking, I think this work outshines his work with TSOL. Filled with emotive orchestral sweeps the whole album reminds me of Voltaire’s famous quote, “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to keep silent.” The album is heartrendingly sad but so beautiful it’s like audio crack cocaine. I simply can not stop listening to it.

2.      Mission: Impossible on Blu Ray: I had been searching for this Blu Ray box set forever, and my local Hellmart had the DVD set, but never the Blu Ray set. Finally, they got it in! And all five movies for $25, that’s a hard deal to beat. I confess, I fell asleep while watching this movie back upon its release in 1996, but this time I was glued to the set. Critics decried the convoluted plot, but I didn’t think it was that difficult to follow, certainly no more than some of  the old television episodes I watched as a kid. (Speaking of, this movie makes the old series, as venerable as it is, look like a high schl by far. I have lost whole hours engrossed in this book. ool play.) If you research it you’ll find it’s one of those movies that struggled to be made (e.g. scripting problems, film-on-location difficulties, personality conflicts with directors/actors, indecisive screenplay writers, the list goes on.)

3.      The Wolf’s Hour  by Robert R. McCammon: Still plowing along in this magnificent horror novel by one of my favorite writers. I have to admit it’s a tad long winded in parts, but if you’re a fan of such great WWII flicks as Where Eagles Dare or The Guns of Navarone, or you played the heck out of the Wolfenstein series, you’d be doing yourself a disservice to pass this one up. I don’t know how McCammon pulled it off, it’s as if the man was a werewolf himself because he ostensibly captured what it would be like to be a lycanthrope and put it on paper for us all to experience. I’ve read some great werewolf stories, (The Werewolf of Paris, Thor) and this tops them all.

4.      Ronin on Blu Ray: An action film starring Robert DeNiro and Jean Reno. I had watched this years ago on DVD and recently came across a bargain bin edition of it on Blu Ray. Directed by John Frankenheimer who certainly needs no introduction. This director directed action movies years before they were ever a thing. After a the Cold War there are broken and splintered secret agents still hyped and pumped full of a adrenaline. They need something to do, and so a group of them came together and formed an A-Team of sorts. This movie is filled with surprises, betrayals, and enough action sequences to mesmerize a cave man. And not mention the appearance of Natascha McElhone who’s as beautiful as a summer day in the winter solstice. If you like car chases, this is one not to be missed, of particular note is the chase through the Parisian highway tunnels, similar to the one in which Princess Diana lost her life.  

5.      Sony Playstation Vita: I suddenly had the urge to pick up a handheld gaming device which is odd being that I’ve never once played a game on my mobile phone. And years ago I purchased a Sony Playstation PSP and just couldn’t get into it. I quickly sold it on eBay. With this Vita, however, I’m totally hooked. Everybody seems to be clamoring over the new Nintendo Switch and that’s all fine and dandy, but rather than hanging out with Mario, I’d rather play the original Final Fantasy, Silent Hill and Metal Gear games. Not to mention, all of the great indies available for the Vita. Stardew Valley, Limbo, Full Throttle, Risk of Rain, Child of Light. I like how Sony murdered the Vita yet its rabid fanbase keeps it going strong.

6.      Rise of Venice on PC: I bought this on a Steam Sale many moons ago. It’s one of those Patrician era wooden ships/trading simulations in which most of the goings on occurs behind the scenes in invisible spreadsheets, but the graphics and the art style and the music grace the game lovingly. The thing is, I really suck at it. The tutorial is not the best at explaining things. In truth, I’m about to uninstall it. I may give it one more go, but the future doesn’t look too bright. It’s a game I really wish would work out.

7.      Euro Truck Sim 2 on PC: I recently picked up the Vive La France! expansion which bloated my map from 60% explored to now only 45% explored. This just goes to show how much content was added with the map. I’m now driving a Mercedes semi and have six or seven drivers working under me. I’m slowly building my empire into a mega corporation trucking company. You’ve heard me say this before, but ETS2 is my garden of zen. There’s just nothing quite like it, cruising along a rainy highway, the lights in the cab and Trance music playing on the radio (which is actually authentically streamed from European stations via the Internet.) This is a game which shall always reside on my HDD.

Edward's May 2018 Mix

 

It went straight from winter to summer. Of course I’m not complaining. I’ll take heat over cold anytime. I’ve got to have an excuse to stay inside and play computer games. I’m embracing my new obsession for guitar, both listening and playing. My only regret is wishing I’d began this journey decades ago when I was a young man. I had a cardioversion this month and guess what? It worked!! Doctors said I should start to feel progressively better. I didn’t realize I was feeling badly!

1.      Garbage Beautiful  on CD: The album sounds like . . . well, garbage. Beautiful Garbage failed to match the commercial success achieved by its predecessors. I can’t believe the disappointment of this album, Rolling Stone Magazine cited it as one of their top ten releases of 2001. I don’t see it all. And I guess I’m not alone. The album garnered critical complain yet sales were wholly lackluster. The album sounds like a b-side compilation of Garbage 2.0. Better, it sounds like songs that would have been culled from a new release. I don’t know how to describe it. Each song is very samey . . .with a tinge of hip-hop and something not quite electronica, but maybe close. I’ve listened to it twice now thinking perhaps it would grow on me. Not happening.

2.      For Honor on PC: It was free to play on Steam for a weekend this month. And the standard version of the game went on sale from $60 down to $15. I couldn’t resist. This is the ultimate sword fighting simulation. It makes Medieval: Chivalry look like a mod some 7^th grader made for an Intro to Computing class. The game is super polished, but in line with Ubisoft’s money generating schemes, there are a gazillion incrementals which cost money. There is one “emotion” basically an animated gesture your foe does when he defeats you that costs the equivalent of $9.00. This is ludicrous. But of course, this is what Ubisoft does. I’m still in the training academy, and I have to say my Xbox Controller hasn’t had such a workout since Dark Souls. The game is torturous difficult. I can only imagine how I’m going to be dueling someone online. I’m going to be like Curly of  The Three Stooges, self slapping my face and whoop, whoop, whooping . . .right before I throw my PC out of the window. But hey, you know me: the eternal masochist.

3.      The Wolf’s Hour  by Robert R. McCammon: Had a friend approached me with this book and said, “Hey, I have this book I want you to read,” and gave me this I probably would have laughed and said, “Ah, that’s okay . . . just tell me what it’s about. And give me the Reader’s Digest version.” But this IS Robert R. McCammon, of whom I am a big fan and it’s a book I hadn’t read so I decided to dive into it. The book concerns a Russian spy in WWII converted to the English who does clandestine (and sometimes not so clandestine ) missions behind German lines. He kills his share of Nazis and steals his fair share of documents and he works with almost superhuman aplomb. And the reason he’s able to pull these shenanigans off so well is because he’s a werewolf. Yes, I know, it’s laughably farfetched. But McCammon breathes life into this guy . . er . .beast? so vividly that you can’t help but sympathize with him and believe in the character.

4.      Battletech on PC: Easily the most fun I’ve had in a PC game this year. This game was a Kickstarter project, obviously by a band of people who were big fans of the original FASA license of the 1980s, we’re talking the books, the table top miniatures game. And yes, even the Activision and Microsoft games of the 1990s. I’m loving the campaign, oddly, limiting my playtime with it because I don’t want to reach the game’s end, though it has unlimited playability. And Paradox Interactive is famous for oodles of DLC—this is a good thing. I’ve gotten to play around in some online skirmishes. I suck, but I still have fun losing. This is a game I’m going to play for a long time.

5.      Heat on Blu Ray: I watched this with my good friend, John Wallen who had never seen it. This makes probably my sixth viewing of the movie. It’s odd how one can watch a movie over again and pick up details formerly passed over. Directed and produced by Michael Mann, this movie makes me want to check out more of his work (Miami Vice notwithstanding.) Coupled with an amazing soundtrack, this movie features one of the greatest bank heist shootouts in movie making history. It’s no small wonder this movie was the inspiration for the games, Kayne & Lynch: Dead Men, Payday: The Heist, & Grand Theft Auto.

6.      The Cure  Seventeen Seconds on CD: Released in 1980, this is The Cure’s second album and was made on a minimal budget. Some say it paved the way for Gothic music (despite Robert Smith’s extreme aversion to that association.) My personal favorite, “A Forest” reminds me of  the soundtrack to IonStorm’s venerable computer game, Deus Ex. The whole album is seemingly consisted of as much minimalism of instrumentation as was the budget, but I think it set the standard for that distinct Cure sound. And I can see how critics claim it was at the forefront of Gothic music. Chris Westwood of Record Mirror described the album as "sad Cure, sitting in cold rooms, watching clocks". It’s a perfect description. 

7.   Ibanez AW54LCE Guitar: Progressing in my journey on becoming a master guitarist I’ve discovered the following notions to be total falsehoods: “I’m too old to learn,” or “I have no talent.” The truth is, it’s really just a matter of practice. I’m keeping it fun, and each time I pick up the guitar I feel like I come away from it having learned just one more little thing which made me better than the previous session. And speaking of keeping it fun, I just picked up a new Ibanez AW54LCE  lefty acoustic. Solid mahogany, it looks like a guitar dipped in chocolate. And I can’t say enough for the folks at Sweetwater, out of Fort Wayne, IN where I purchased it. Switching from electric to acoustic is different and more difficult, but I’m enjoying the transition and my newly found passion for singing.